Is this the best thing ever or is it the best thing ever? It's a shark wearing a freakin' laser.
Laser Shark is the work of laser manufacturer Wicked Lasers and TV marine biologist Luke Tipple; and, strangely, the aim wasn't to test the lasers, so much as the attachment apparatus.
"Initially, I told them no," Tipple told Wired magazine. "I thought it was a frivolous stunt. But then I considered that it would give us an opportunity to test our clips and attachments, and whatever is attached to that clip, I really don't care. It was a low-powered laser that couldn't be dangerous to anyone, and there's actually useful applications in having a laser attached to the animal."
The laser was attached to the dorsal fin of a lemon shark off the coast of the Bahamas on 24 April, and the experiment, as well as putting the clamp through its paces, revealed some interesting things about shark behaviours; namely, that sharks, contrary to what Tipple had anecdotally heard, are attracted, rather than repelled, by lasers. It also revealed evidence of the ways in which sharks move their bodies in real time.
Which is great, of course; we're all for discovery. But think what a laser shark could do.
(For those concerned about animal cruelty, Tipple went to great lengths to explain that the process was harmless and non-invasive, but others were not convinced; head over to the Wired article for their full story.)